Vengeance
by pikapikatchu
Summary: Greg's new case is a little tricky - Nick's ex is the victim. Things get ugly when Nick's involvement is questioned.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! It's been a while since I uploaded another story, I just didn't have the time. Here's a rather short new one, I hope you enjoy it! Maybe let me know if you do in the Reviews!**

* * *

The clock hit 2 a.m. as Greg walked through the lab's halls with a rather depressed look on his face. He was looking for Nick, who was sitting in the A/V lab, watching some security camera footage crucial to his case.

"Hey Nick," Greg said softly, "How's it going?"

"Great!" Nick exclaimed rather excited. "I have my suspect on camera, attacking the victim. He's going down."

Greg briefly glanced at the video. It showed a man attack a woman in an elevator and leaving her for dead as he got off on the first floor. "Good. That's good." He patted his shoulder.

Nick couldn't help but notice his friend acting a little weird, so he turned his chair to face him. "Everything alright? You look... sad."

"Yeah, I mean... Actually, no. There's something I need to tell you."

"Sure, what is it?" He offered Greg the seat next to him, but he declined.

"Do you remember Erin Hill?"

"Oh yeah, of course, Erin." He smiled. "We dated for a few weeks last year."

"Did you guys keep in touch?"

He shook his head. "The whole relationship was a big mess. She has a boyfriend, remember?"

"Well, seems like she wanted to get in touch with you..." He handed him a picture of Nick and Erin, together with a letter, each in a plastic bag.

"...Where did you get this?"

"She had it in her purse. She's the victim in my case, Nick."

Nick looked up from the letter. "...Did she die?"

Greg nodded. "I'm sorry."

"I can't believe it, what happened?"

"She was shot in a backalley near the strip. It says in the letter that she had just broken up with her boyfriend."

"Do you think he shot her?" The shock was clearly visible in Nick's face. He didn't know what to think or feel right now, or how to react to these news.

"Seems likely, but it's too early to make any assumptions. I'll find whoever did this to her." He gently put his hand on Nick's shoulder before turning around and walking towards the exit.

"...I lied."

"Hm?" He turned back around to look at his friend. "About what?"

"About Erin. We've kept in touch."

"...Oh." Greg raised his eyebrows. "Okay."

"I figured you'd find out about it during the investigation, anyway, so..."

Greg nodded. He attempted to leave the room, but decided to stay and ask some more questions. "Why'd you lie to me?"

"Because I know what you think about it. And I even agree with you, it's just... something always keeps me going back to her and..." He sighed deeply. "Well, used to keep me going back. Not anymore."

* * *

Nick and Greg were both in quite a depressed mood as they walked home. Since Greg was feeling that way because Nick was feeling down, he tried uplifting his friend's spirits by telling some senseless, funny stories. Nick listened to every one of them, but it didn't work, nothing could take his mind off of Erin right now. "You know," he said as they reached the front door to Nick's house, "I'll go and see if there's any mail." He unlocked the door, but turned around to go to the mail box.

"Alright," Greg replied as he walked inside the house, leaving the door open, making his way into the kitchen to get Nick and himself a beer. He sat down on the couch exhausted, getting his cell phone out of his pocket to check for new messages. He turned his head to the door as he heard it close. "Do you want a b..." His face froze as he realized the person who had just walked in wasn't Nick. "...Who are you?"

"Are you Nick?" the man asked nervously.

Greg slightly shook his head. "What do you want from him?" He got up from his seat.

"...Don't you move!" the man yelled aggressively.

Nick walked in, perfectly concealing the fact that he'd just cried a little. "Hey Greg, if you don't mind, I think I'll head straight to bed, I..." He stopped talking as he looked at Greg's scared face. "What's wrong?"

"Are you Nick?" the man asked him.

Only now did Nick realize he was there, standing in the corner right from him. "...What's going on?" He looked the man up and down.

"...You're the guy, huh? Why'd you do it, man?" The man had quite a disturbing face impression, but it was hard to read him.

"...Do what?"

"Kill her. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about."

"...But I don't."

"...Are you serious?!" He walked up closer to Nick to shove him.

"Hey!" Greg yelled as he walked closer to them, but Nick signed him to stay away, so he kept a distance.

"You keep out of this!" the man yelled as he turned to Greg for a second, but quickly concentrated back on Nick. "Did she want to leave you? Did she finally have enough of your emotional abuse?"

"...Look, I have no idea what you're talking about. Maybe you have me confused with someone else, but... You better get out of my face now." Nick was getting angry.

The man released a loud laugh. "Or what? Huh? What are you gonna do, shoot me like you shot her?"

It slowly dawned on Nick who this man was talking about. "...You think I shot Erin? Are you... the boyfriend?"

" **Ex** -boyfriend, thanks to you. Do you feel proud, hm? Did you pat yourself on the back when you ruined a four-year relationship?"

Greg was scared. He thought about ways to get out of that situation without it escalating any more. "Okay, let's all calm down for a second." He decided to intervene, hoping to be able to steer the conversation in a different direction. "What's your name?"

"...Ralph," he replied without even taking his eyes off of Nick.

"Okay, Ralph... I'm Greg. I'm very sorry for your loss, but you've got it all wrong. Nick didn't kill Erin, he was at work when it happened."

"...Yeah, how do you know?" His eyes slowly wandered over to Greg. "...You're investigating the case? Typical. You bastards have each other's backs, right?" He walked up to him. "No matter what!" He shoved Greg quite aggressively, causing him to stumble back, only keeping himself from falling down by propping himself up at the couch behind him.

"Hey, what the hell is your problem?!" Nick yelled, walking up closer to Ralph now.

"Nick, calm down. I'm okay." Greg put his hand on Nick's arm, gently pulling him back, but Nick shook his hand off. Nick and Ralph stood there face to face, staring in eachother's rage-filled eyes. Greg feared that the situation was about to escalate any second. He felt helpless, not knowing how to diffuse the situation. "...Nick, **please** ," he begged desperately. No person would feel anything close to comfortable in a setting like that, but for Greg it was worst.

"I'll give you the chance to leave now. Take it or get arrested," Nick threatened. "And believe me, I won't be gentle."

Ralph snorted sarcastically as he backed off a bit. "I won't give you the satisfaction to give you a reason to attack me." He stood there in front of the two for a moment, thinking about what his next step should be. He glanced towards the door a few times, but he seemed quite indicisive. Nick and Greg got nervous watching him, they both sensed that he was not ready to leave just yet. They got proved right when he pulled out a gun, pointing it at Nick. "I should **end** you right now!" he yelled aggressively and desperately as both CSIs put their hands up.

"...Ralph, what are you doing? Put the gun down," Greg said shocked but as calm as possible.

"Shut up." He didn't even look at Greg, his eyes were fixated on Nick right now. His hand started to shake. "You're good friends, huh?" His shaky hand slowly moved in Greg's direction, the gun barrel now pointing at him.

"...Don't," Nick said with a furious look in his eyes.

"Sit down," he ordered Greg, but the CSI didn't comply right away. "Do it!"

"...Okay." Greg did, looking at his friend quite helplessly. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize, just... do what I tell you."

"...Well, what do you want me to do?"

Ralf thought about it. It was a reaction he didn't quite expect. "...Be honest with me."

The CSI hastily nodded. "I am. What do you want to know?"

Nick watched the scenery in confusion, he didn't quite get what was happening right now.

"...Nick killed her, right?"

"It's too early to make any assumptions, really. The evidence is getting processed right now, these tests take time. All we know so far is how and when she died, and the time of death rules Nick out as a suspect. He was at a crime scene and I can prove that. There's no conspiracy or cover-up, he simply didn't do it."

After a moment in silence, Ralph looked at Nick. "Turn around."

"You're wasting precious time. While you're here harassing an innocent man, her real murderer is out there somewhere." Greg was getting anxious and nervous.

"Innocent?" Ralph released a sarcastic laugh. Nick didn't even think of doing what this guy told him, so Ralph walked over and turned him around himself, putting handcuffs on Nick's wrists.

"...What are you doing?!" Nick tried to break free from Ralph's grip, but this only got him pushed against the wall.

"Shut up! I should just shoot you, but... Your friend's right." He proceeded to push Nick down to the ground to cuff him to the radiator.

Greg watched in confusion.

"Alright, now you," Ralph said as he walked up to Greg with handcuffs in his hand.

Greg's eyes kept moving to Nick and then back at Ralph. He had a rather helpless look on his face. The second Ralph came closer, he raised up from his seat and took a step back.

"...Greg, take deep breaths," Nick said, hoping to calm him down that way. "It's gonna be okay, this will be over in a moment."

There wasn't much else for Greg to do, anyway, but try to stay calm. Panic slowly crawled up on him, anyway, as Ralph proceeded to handcuff him, too. But instead of leaving like they hoped he would, he pushed Greg to make him walk. "Come on, into the bedroom."

"...What? Why?" Greg asked frightened. "...Nick..."

"Don't hurt him, he's on your side! He's trying to find out what happened to Erin. If he can't keep up his work, this whole day would be wasted and we might never find out what happened to her!" Nick was pleading for his friend's life, but Ralph didn't seem interested enough to listen. He walked Greg into the bedroom, while Nick was trying to somehow break free from his handcuffs. He heard some noise coming from the bedroom, followed by a short moment of silence before a shot was fired. Ralph walked out, putting his gun in his messenger bag.

"You deserve so much more pain than this for the sorrow you caused me," Ralph said to Nick as he left, closing the door behind him.

"...Oh god, no... Greg," he was weeping as he desperately kept on trying to break free. "...Come on!" he growled frantically, almost dislocating his thumb in his attempt to get the handcuffs off his wrist.

"Nick, I'm okay," these words could be heard from inside the bedroom.

"...Greg? You're alright?" he said almost disbelieving, tears of joy running down his cheeks. "Are you hurt?"

"No. I'm so sorry, he told me to stay quiet until he left, or else he would've shot you. He wanted you to believe he killed me."

Nick was so happy and relieved right now that he didn't know what to say, he just sat there thanking god. His eyes widened in surprise as he watched Greg walk up to him. "...How...?"

Without saying a word, Greg hurried to his friend to hug him. "As soon as we were in the bedroom, he took the cuffs off and tied me to the bedpost with one of your ties. I think he wanted me to be able to free myself." He had the happiest smile on his face as he took his cell phone out to call for help.

"I-I can't believe how lucky we just were..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Do you guys enjoy the new story? :)**

* * *

"Any luck yet?" Nick walked into the evidence room, where Greg was sitting at a laptop.

Greg had been staring at that screen for almost two hours now. "Oh yeah." He rubbed his burning eyes. "Ralph Serling, 34 years old and a Vegas native. The gun he used earlier was reported stolen two years ago, last known owner was a 60 year old guy from L.A. who died last year. And the bullet doesn't match the ones I found at the scene."

"So he didn't kill Erin?"

"Well, if he did, he used a different gun but... I don't think he did it."

"Why not?"

Greg shrugged. "Why would he confront you about it when he knows that he's the one who killed her?"

"...Because it would make him look innocent."

"Come on, he risked a lot when he confronted you, it doesn't make sense."

Nick frowned. "Don't sympathize with this guy."

"I-I'm not, I just don't think he did it, is all."

His friend sat down next to him. "Greg, listen to me." He put his hands on Greg's shoulders. "This guy is dangerous. He brought a gun to my house and pointed it at both of us. Just because he chose not to shoot us doesn't make him a good person."

Greg sighed as he gave him a look. "I know that. It's not like I want to be friends with the guy, Nick. I just don't think he shot her."

"Okay, but I worry about you. This was a scary experience and here you are two hours later, back at work. It's not healthy."

"Really? And you're here for fun?"

He gave him a look. "Fair enough. But don't let this guy fool you."

"I won't. But his record is clean, the gun he used doesn't match and he should've been at work at the time of the murder. I'll call his office to confirm, but it looks like he really isn't our guy."

"Well, I'll celebrate when we're really sure. But either way, this guy's wanted now. Were you able to find any other suspect?"

Greg nodded. "Seems like you're not the only guy she had on the side, according to her e-mails."

"...Really." Nick raised his eyebrows. "Who else?"

"A Jared Cormack exchanged some pretty sexual e-mails with her. They met up at least seven times in the last two months."

"...No way. Jared? Jared Cormack?"

Greg frowned. "Don't tell me you know the guy."

"...I do. He's a lawyer I met at the gym a few months ago. We talked a few times and... Damn it, I met Erin at that gym, that's probably where they met."

"Wow, this is becoming more and more like a cheesy soap opera."

"Now's not the time for joking around, do you have any idea what that means? Jared's life is in jeopardy."

"I know, don't worry. Brass is already on his way to pick him up." He received a text message. "Oh, great! They're already here." He grabbed a few files and walked out of the room, Nick followed him. They talked some more about the case, but once Greg realized that Nick was following him to the interrogation room, he stopped. "Uhm, Nick... you're not trying to join me in the interrogation, are you?"

"Yes I am." When he received an annoyed look, he went on, "Come on, man. This is important to me. Erin... is important to me."

"...Which is exactly why you're not joining us. Not only for the sake of the case, but also for the sake of your own sanity." Greg started walking again, again followed by his friend.

"Don't get over-dramatic with me! I can handle this, you know that."

They had reached the interrogation room. "All I know," Greg said as he signed an officer to come over to him, "Is that you're staying out of here." He turned to the officer. "Taser him if he tries to walk into that room." He gave Nick a look before walking in.

* * *

Greg walked into the break room to fix himself a coffee, but as he walked near the coffee machine, Nick placed himself in his way. "What'd he say?"

Greg looked at him quite surprised. "Actually, not much that could be of help. He was devastated to learn about her death and claims he hasn't seen her in the last two weeks, and their e-mail correspondence supports that." He tried to get around Nick to fix himself that coffee he wanted, but Nick didn't let him. "...What are you doing?"

"You'll believe him just like that? Have you checked his alibi? Checked if he owns a gun?"

He sighed. "I'll have to talk to his secretary to confirm his alibi, he claims they were at the office together. And yes, he does own a gun, but it doesn't match the murder weapon. Can I get a coffee now?"

"So what now? Who else could've killed her?" Nick turned around to get Greg a cup of coffee.

Greg waited for him to hand the cup over, but he didn't. "Well, Jared told me she was estranged from her family, but her brother contacted her about a month ago. I figured talking to him might be a good start."

"Good, then what are you waiting for?"

"...My coffee, for starters." He gave him a look as he grabbed the cup out of his hand. "Thank you," he said sarcastically as he walked out of the room and into the evidence room.

Nick followed. "What about the evidence you collected at the scene?"

"Aside from the bullets there really isn't much to work with. I'm waiting for the autopsy results, hoping they'll help, but..." As he looked at Nick's face, he realized he shouldn't have said that. "...Nick, I know what you're thinking but... don't, okay? Please."

"When will the results be ready?"

"...I-I don't know."

"Greg... tell me."

He put the coffee mug down on the light table. "Listen, you'll regret going down there. You don't want to remember her like that."

"I just want to make sure this case is properly worked on."

Greg meant to try to talk Nick out of going down to pathology, but he took offence to this sentence. "...Excuse me? You think I'm not working on the case properly?"

"I didn't say that, I just..."

Greg interrupted him. "Wow, what the hell, Nick? I'm a good CSI."

"I know that. I know you are, it's just..."

"...Just what?"

Nick sighed. "There's been a lot going on in your life lately, you know? I've been looking over your shoulder every once in a while, making sure you're not... Making sure you're doing your work as great as you used to do."

"...Okay, I really don't need you to stalk me at work. Never once have I neglected work because of what's going on in my life!"

"I know that, but I wanted to make sure it stays that way. That's all, I just... Erin meant a lot to me, okay? I just have to make sure **everything's** done to find her murderer."

"I **am** doing everything I can to find her murderer, Nick! And you're not helping. Just... Just leave me alone, alright?" Greg stormed out of the room and this time Nick didn't follow him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here comes the next one!**

* * *

Greg was back in the evidence room after his visit down in pathology. He was obviously unnerved when Nick walked in with a faked smile on his face. "So... Any news?"

"Get lost, Nick. I'm serious."

"...Come on, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I didn't mean it like that, I just... I really liked Erin, okay?"

"Which is exactly why you should stay away from the case. Your judgement is clouded." Greg sighed rather annoyed.

"Well, not when it comes to you." He took a few steps closer. "You're one of the best CSIs in this lab, I know that. If something were ever to happen to me, I'd want you to take on the case."

Greg kept his annoyed face impression on, even though it flattered him to hear those words. "Then why don't you trust me with this case?"

"Well, because nothing happened to me. I could work the case and... I guess I have some control issues when it comes to these things. I promise I'll stay out of this case as good as I can, but... please don't shut me out. I need to know about the progress you're making, who your suspects are... Stuff like that, you know?"

Greg sighed deeply. "It's not doing you any good to know every gruesome detail, Nick. There's a good reason I don't want you down in pathology right now."

"Fine, then I won't go there. But at least let me take a look in Doc Robbins' file."

"No." Greg hastily shook his head. "We're either doing this under my conditions or not at all, alright?"

"...What is it you're trying to hide from me?"

"Uh, I don't know, Nick. A possible trauma, maybe?" He gave him a look. "There's pictures in there **I** won't ever get out of my head, why do you feel like you need that, too?"

Nick frowned. "What's so horrible about those pictures?"

Greg growled angrily. "Okay, this is the last time I'll give you information on this case that I feel should not be given to you, alright?" When Nick nodded, he went on. "She was shot in the face. She looks nothing like you remember her and I don't want your memory of her clouded by these gory pictures."

"...Okay. Thank you for telling me." Nick stood there in the room, looking at his friend, but every once in a while looking away. He didn't know how to react to information like that. He thought Greg was right, that he would've been better off not knowing. Greg just looked back at him, trying to read his friend's face right now.

"Nick, Robin's asking for you," Russell said as he leaned against the doorframe, "I think your results are ready."

"...Thanks." Nick left the room with a rather disturbed look on his face.

"Was that necessary?" the supervisor asked as he took a few steps inside.

"It was. He wouldn't let it go. And besides, I left out the worst parts." Greg handed him the files.

As Russell opened them, he looked quite shocked. "Wow. Someone really wanted her face to be disfigured."

"Not just her face, her whole body. David counted 47 stab wounds and dozens of cuts. All post-mortem. Whoever did this must've been **really** angry with her."

* * *

Greg was working non-stop on the Erin Hill murder case for the last two days and still didn't know who killed her. He couldn't get a hold of her estranged family, even though her brother was still in town. But he was staying with a friend Greg didn't know the name of, it was next to impossible to track him down. He had just finished talking to her best friend, Olivia Khan, walking out of her apartment with a discouraged look on his face. Olivia couldn't tell him anything useful, either. She was unaware of the fact that her brother tried to get in touch with Erin and had nothing but positive things to say about Ralph. She claims he had always been the perfect boyfriend and that him and Erin were in love, even though she cheated on him with several men. Since Erin was a private person, Olivia knew about the affairs, but never knew the names of the men Erin was seeing. It made the case a lot harder for the CSI, but he was determined to shed some light on the case. He walked out of the apartment building and around the corner, where his denali was parked. Opening the door, he felt a hand on his head, slamming it against the car before pushing him inside. "Stay down!" a familiar voice said as Greg was pressed down on the passenger seat. Greg felt a hand reaching for the CSI's gun. He tried to get the gun before the hand could, but he was hit on the back of his head. Instinctively, he tried to protect his head from further blows while he was being disarmed. "Now be quiet or I'll shoot!" the voice yelled as the car door closed.

"...Ralph, is that you?" Greg asked with a shaky voice, slowly putting his hands up. "What are you doing?"

"I panicked when I saw your gun, okay? I just wanted to talk!" Ralph exclaimed nervously, sitting in the denali's driver's seat.

"I-I'll turn around to you now, okay? We can talk, it's alright."

"...O-Okay, but... No sudden moves or something! I don't want to shoot you, but I will if I have to. Got it?"

"Yeah, of course." Greg turned around to look at Ralph. He was holding the CSIs gun in his shaky hand, nervously looking around.

"You're alone, right?"

Greg nodded. "Yeah. It's okay, you're in no danger."

"I just need an update on the case." He started fumbling in his messenger bag, which made Greg a little nervous.

"...A-An update? Okay, well... To be honest, there's not much I can tell you. I was able to rule out somebody else as a suspect, but..." Greg realized he faced quite the opportunity. Ralph might know more about Erin's life than anybody else. He might know how to reach the brother, he thought. But he needed to be careful, or else he'd put other people – like the brother – in danger. "What can you tell me about Erin? Do you know of anybody who might've wanted to hurt her?"

Ralph shook his head in desperation. "No, no... I... I don't know. I mean, her and Nick... I knew about them for months. It's not like we have an open relationship, but... I know about her affairs, okay? I just act like I don't. I'm out of town a lot and... I understand that she gets lonely. I never really minded, as long as she was happy. But one day she came home from a date with Nick... She had a black eye. The next time a bruise on her wrist. Whenever I asked her about it, she claimed she tripped."

Greg looked quite shocked. He couldn't believe Nick would hurt a woman. "When... When was that? Do you remember?"

Ralph finally got what he was searching for out of his bag. He handed Greg a handkerchief, causing some confusion in him. "...For your head, you're bleeding. Sorry for that." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, it must've been about one or two months ago."

"...And how did you know she met up with Nick?"

"Okay, I'm not proud of it, but... I checked her e-mails every once in a while. I didn't mind her having her affairs but... I wanted to know about it. But I couldn't tell her that, you know? So I monitored her a little..."

Greg looked a little confused. "I checked her e-mail account, there wasn't a mail from or to Nick for the last few months."

"She had two accounts, you probably have the wrong one."

"...Oh. Can you give me the other one?" Ralph nodded as he grabbed a pen and paper from his bag to write the address and the password down. Greg was quite surprised about how cooperative Ralph turned out to be. "Thank you. I'm sure this'll help."

"I hope it will." Ralph got a little teary-eyed.

"...Anything else of help? I didn't really get a chance to get a hold of her family yet. Can you tell me about them?"

He nodded. "They live in California but she doesn't have any contact with them anymore. She never got along with her siblings and her step-dad. ...Wait, I think she mentioned that the step-dad died a few months ago and..." Ralph stopped talking. "Damn it. God damnit!" he yelled quite frustrated, throwing his fist against the steering wheel several times in anger. "I'm such an **idiot**!"

Greg winced every time Ralph's fist hit the steering wheel. He was very surprised and confused over this behavior.

"Greg, I... Thank you, you made me remember something."

The CSI hated himself right now. He tried to be as careful with his questions as possible, but obviously didn't succeed. "...W-why, what'd I do?"

Ralph looked down on Greg's gun in his hand.

"What... What are you doing? Ralph?"

"No, don't worry... I should probably not take this with me." He proceeded to unload the gun, putting the magazine in his bag. He threw the emptied gun in the backseat. "Where's your car key?"

"...Uh, here..." Greg handed him the key. He didn't like the prospect of going on a road trip with this guy, but he wasn't sure how he'd react to any resistance. He figured he'd be safer trying to make him feel safe with him.

Ralph proceeded to take the key off the keychain. "I'll make sure you get it back in a few days, alright?"

"...What?"

"The key. I can't leave it here with you, I can't have you follow me, alright? You have a spare key somewhere, yes?" When Greg nodded confused, he went on. "Good, then use this until you get that one back."

"...You must be the most considerate guy to ever pull a gun on me." Greg couldn't help but laugh about it. It was a nervous, disturbed laugh, but it caused Ralph to laugh, too.

"But I'll also have to take your cell phone and radio."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Sorry it's taking me so long to upload the chapters, I'll try to be quicker. I think I want to wrap this story up in 2016 and treat you with a new one in 2017!**

* * *

Greg was back at the lab almost two hours later. He wasn't sure how to feel about what had just happened to him, but annoyance was his main feeling right now. He went straight into the A/V lab when he arrived, sitting down in front of a computer.

"Hey Nick!" he yelled from inside the A/V to his friend who was just walking past the lab.

"What is it?" Nick asked as he walked in. They had already dissolved their little dispute from two days ago, everything was alright between them again. Nick swore to back off a little, knowing that this case was hard on Greg, as well. "...Whoa, what happened to you?"

Greg was sporting a band-aid over his right eyebrow. "Long story. Is that your e-mail address?" He pointed at the screen.

"Uhm, no. Why?"

"This is the reason Ralph thought you had something to do with Erin's death. He thought that when she was with this guy, she met up with you. She came home with bruises twice, so he thought you were abusing her. But it's another guy named Nick."

Nick raised his eyebrows. "Wow. So it was just a coincidence... Just bad luck, huh?"

Greg nodded. "I think that's her brother. Jared didn't know the brother's name, but the e-mails don't suggest any romantic or sexual feelings between the two. The first ones obviously show that they have history together, but they kept the exchange so short that it's hard to read anything into this. But the timeframe fits with what Jared said and the last mails are quite hostile."

Nick nodded thoughtful. "So what now?"

"Her step-dad died a few months ago. She was on a flight to L.A. at the time, maybe she went to the funeral and something happened there. Maybe her and her brother had a fight, so he comes back months later and confronts her about it... Or maybe he even planned on killing her."

"Wow, horrible theory but... Could work. How did you find out about all this? Was her friend that much of help?"

"...Uhm, yeah. Kinda."

"What does that mean, 'kinda'?" Nick noticed the weird look on Greg's face. "Greg, what happened with your head?"

He sighed. "Ralph knows more about her than anybody else I've talked to."

"Ralph? Did they finally catch him? And you didn't tell me?!"

"Not exactly..."

"...Okay, you need to stop being so vague or..."

Greg stopped him. "Okay, just listen. He wanted some update on the case so he... confronted me."

"Confronted you? Looks more like he confronted your head with... what? His gun?"

He shook his head. "…More like my car."

Nick's jaw clenched in anger. "That son of a bitch."

"He's grieving, Nick. He didn't mean to hurt me, he was just nervous and..."

"Why the **hell** do you keep defending the guy?"

"I-I'm not. That's just what he told me. And he didn't hurt me so..."

"Stop it!" Nick interrupted him. "He did hurt you, you have a band-aid on your god-damned head! I have bruises from the handcuffs he put on me on my wrists!" Nick pulled up his sleeves to show the bruises. "Whatever the guy says doesn't reflect his actions. Why are you not angry with him?!"

Greg was finally realizing what the problem really was. "...It was scary for me, too, Nick. But instead of being angry I chose to be thankful we got away with a few cuts and bruises, you know?"

"What's scary is that this guy is still out there and you being okay with that!"

"I'm not okay with it, Nick. But at the moment there's just not much I can do about it, you know? He knows the police is looking for him so he's hiding. I'm more interested in finding Erin's brother right now. He's in jeopardy. Ralph's out there looking for him and... Come to think of it, both could be in danger right now. Who knows what her brother does to him to defend himself..."

Nick couldn't stand looking at Greg right now, he looked concerned for Ralph. "You can't be serious. You should be taken off the case, you know that?"

"...Why?"

"Because you're on **his** side! That's not healthy and certainly won't help the case!"

"...Okay, first of all, I'm not. And second of all... He's not the bad guy in this story. Whoever killed Erin is, and at the moment everything points to her brother. And Ralph knows that, I... I'm sorry, we need to talk about this some other time, I need to tell Brass about this."

* * *

Greg walked home after his long shift quite exhausted. Brass wasn't able to find Ralph or Erin's brother and he was getting frustrated. He was sure the brother was all he needed to crack the case, yet there was no way to track him down. No one in Erin's life knew about her family, and while Greg was able to get a hold of the family, they didn't want to help him. They claimed they didn't know whose place he was staying at while in Vegas but insisted that he had nothing to do with her murder. But they didn't sound too upset or surprised about the sad news, either. "Okay, call me when you know more, alright? Yes, thank you. Bye." Greg hung up the phone as he reached the door to Nick's house.

"You don't have a gun on you, do you?" Ralph asked as he hurried up to him from behind.

Greg startled. "N-No." While he certainly wished he had, he was even more cursing the fact that Ralph did.

"See? Told you I'd get your stuff back to you." He threw the key to Greg's denali to him.

The CSI caught it with a confused look on his face. "...Thank you."

"Don't worry, I have your cell phone and radio with me, too. But let's deal with that inside."

"...I-Inside? You want to come in?"

Ralph nodded as he pushed Greg towards the door. "Come on, open up."

"Can't... Can't we discuss this right here?"

"Okay, don't annoy me, Greg. I've had a rough day and I don't need any shit from you! Just open up and get inside!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Next one!**

* * *

"...Can I offer you something to drink?" Greg said in a rather mocking tone as he walked inside the house while Ralph followed behind.

"Nah, just sit down," he replied nervously, looking around the room. "Nick's not here, is he?"

Greg shook his head. He wasn't sure whether he would've preferred Nick to be home or not right now. He was pretty confident that Ralph wasn't a real, dangerous threat right now, but he sure didn't feel comfortable right now, either. "What do you want here, anyway?" he asked as he sat down on the couch.

"When's he gonna come home?"

"I don't know, in an hour or two, maybe." Greg was lying, he knew that Nick wouldn't be home for the next three or four hours, but he figured sharing this information wasn't a good idea.

"Well then, let's get started, we don't have a lot of time." He sat down opposite him on the coffee table, looking at him quite expectantly.

"...Uh, alright." Greg looked at him guessing.

They sat like that for almost a minute before Ralph lost his temper. "God damnit, just spill it!" he yelled.

"...Spill what? I don't know what you want from me."

"You had enough time to figure out what I was hinting at earlier, no? Erin's brother?"

"...Oh. Right, yeah."

"You got it, right?"

Greg nodded. "Sure."

"So? ...Found him, yet?"

He shook his head. "No. Did you?"

Ralph laughed quite hysterically. "Trust me, if I did, I wouldn't be here right now. I'd be on my way to Mexico already, proudly wiping his blood off my hands!"

Greg frowned. "Do you really think that's a good idea? I mean, if he's the murderer, he'll get a life sentence, if not the death penalty."

"...That's not enough. I know what he did. Every disgusting little thing he did to her, I know, alright? And I'm just talking about what he did to her when he killed her. I have no idea what he did to her prior to that, when they were kids... Or when he tracked her down a few months ago. Doesn't matter, he'll pay for it all."

Greg sighed. "But it'll ruin your life. Is that what she'd have wanted?"

Ralph hastily nodded. "She'd want to see that bastard suffer, no matter what it would cost me."

Greg's phone rang, which startled both men.

"Hand it over," Ralph demanded.

Greg did.

"Captain Brass... That's gotta be important. I'll put him on speaker, you mention anything about me... I'll have to do something I really don't want to do, okay?"

Greg nodded quite desperately. "...Hey Jim."

" _Greg, I hope you're not in bed already because we just arrested Nick Hill,"_ Brass said quite joyful. _"He's down at the station. I figured you'd like to be there when we interrogate him."_

Greg looked at Ralph, waiting for him to let him know what to answer to that. "Okay, thanks. ...Uh, I'll be there as soon as I can. Did he say anything yet?"

" _Just that he doesn't want to talk to us, but that shouldn't stop us from interrogating that bastard. We're gonna get started soon, just join when you can."_

"O-Okay, thanks. See you later." Greg smiled quite relieved as Ralph disconnected the call. "It's over. They got him. Brass is great with interrogations, he'll probably be able to get a confession out of the guy. It's best you turn yourself in to the police, they'll understand. Nick and I will testify for you, you'll get away with community service or something."

"It's not over yet, come on." Ralph pulled Greg up from his seat.

"What? Where are we going?"

"The police station."

"...To turn yourself in?"

Ralph gave him a look. "Not before I killed that bastard."

"...What? No! Come on, Ralph. Listen to me! It's over, he's in an interrogation room together with police officers and Captain Brass. There's no way you'll get anywhere near him."

"I got you to help me, this'll work."

"...Help you? You'll only get yourself killed!"

He grabbed Greg's arm to pull him out of the door. "We're doing this, come on!"

* * *

After a straining car drive to the station, where Greg tried to convince Ralph not to go through with his plan, they finally arrived. Greg wasn't only fearing for his and Ralph's safety, but also for Captain Brass' and everybody elses inside that police station. Every police officer in Vegas knew Ralph's face after he attacked Nick and Greg, there was no way they could walk in there unnoticed.

Ralph knew this, so he decided to disguise himself, by wearing Greg's CSI vest and his sunglasses. "Okay, here's how this will go down. We walk in, you make some small talk to distract anyone trying to chat us up. You show me which room they're in, I walk in, shoot the guy and drop my gun. Nobody gets hurt, everything's fine."

Greg couldn't help his eyes watering up. He was frustrated, desperate and felt helpless. "Nobody, except for Nick Hill. You know he might be innocent, right?"

Ralph released a sarcastic laugh. "Oh please. Even if he didn't kill her, which I'm quite sure he did, he's not innocent. Who knows what Erin's step-dad and he did to her that made her leave the family. He deserves what's about to come." He looked at Greg, who was tensing up right now. "Now move."

"...No."

"Excuse me?"

"I-I'm sorry, I just can't let you do that. You're endangering everybody inside this police station and will get yourself killed. I'm not gonna help you with that."

Ralph put a soft smile on his lips before grabbing Greg's neck and putting the gun to his face. "I'm sorry, did I ask you to help me or **tell you** to do it?" He stared into the CSIs fright-filled eyes. "Don't think that because I like you I won't kill you if you get in my way, okay? Think I wouldn't hurt you?" Without any hesitation, he smashed the butt of the gun on Greg's arm, muffling any painful sound the CSI wanted to get out. "Think again."

Greg looked shocked at him. Not only shocked that Ralph was capable of hurting him just like that, but also over the realization that he had no other choice but to do what he wanted.

This shocked look creeped Ralph out, so he turned to Greg, slowly and gently wiping the tears away from the CSIs face. "Now come on, let's get this over with."

* * *

Greg walked in, quite obviously in great distress right now. He couldn't hide it, even if he wanted to – which he didn't. He was hoping someone would notice and realize what was going on. Ralph, on the other hand, was quite relaxed. He walked in with a smile on his face.

"Hey, wait a minute! Hold up!" a voice said to them from behind.

Greg turned around anxiously. "Y-Yeah?"

It was officer Spencer, with a big grin on his face. "Greg!" He hugged him. "Haven't seen you in a while! I heard what happened, are you alright?"

He nodded. "Yeah, uhm... I'm fine. But I'm in a bit of a hurry, so..."

"Of course, no problem. Just give me a call later, maybe we can hang out sometime." He patted his shoulder.

"Yeah, I will." His eyes lingered on Spencer's longer than usual, trying to convey a message. But Spencer didn't get that, instead he stared back into the CSIs eyes for a moment and smiled. Disappointment was obvious in Greg's face now as they kept walking, as well as annoyance. He wasn't really surprised that Spencer didn't get the hint. As he was walking next to Ralph, he whispered to him, "...Is there any way I can convince you not to do this? Please, just... Just think about it. Should you survive this, you will serve a life sentence in prison. That's not worth it."

"Let me decide whether it's worth it or not. Now keep moving."

Greg stopped a few feet in front of the interrogation room. "There it is. Please don't let anybody else get hurt."

"You'll be in there with me, too. Don't worry, as long as you don't make any sudden moves, you'll be fine."

"...What? No, please. I don't want to watch you get yourself killed."

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice. Move it, I'll stay close behind you."

Greg looked around helplessly, but no one was nearby.

"Go on," Ralph said rather nervously as he pushed the gun against Greg's back.


	6. Chapter 6

**Only one chapter to go!**

* * *

Brass was already sitting opposite Nick Hill at the table in the interrogation room, an officer standing by the door. Hill was leaned back in his seat with a smug grin on his lips, hardly talking to the Captain.

"Greg, good. You're here," Brass said as he turned around. He noticed right away that something was going on, Greg's teary eyes being the biggest hint.

"Excuse me sir, I need to see your I.D.," the officer said to Ralph as he walked in behind the CSI.

"Of course, sorry," Ralph said calmly. But instead of flashing any I.D., he opened fire at Nick Hill. Both Brass and the officer ducked as they drew their weapons, pointing it at Ralph. But neither one dared to shoot, as Ralph had a tight grip around Greg's neck, placing him in front of his body. He whispered something into the CSIs ear as he pointed the gun on his head.

"Brass," Greg said with a shaky voice, "He wants you to get paramedics... for Hill."

The Captain frowned confused. "What?"

Hill was lying on the floor screaming. His shoulder and leg had been hit and he was bleeding profoundly.

"Yeah. You need to save him."

"...What the hell's going on, Greg?" Brass asked as he called for paramedics.

Greg meant to answer, but when he tried, Ralph hardened the grip around his neck for a moment, then Ralph whispered again. "...Just get Hill out of the room so that the paramedics can work on him. He needs to get to a hospital."

* * *

Ralph and Greg were in the interrogation room together with Brass for almost two hours now. Ralph had loosened the grip around Greg's neck the moment the officer had left the room, and was only holding him by his arm by now. They were sitting on the ground right now, with Greg placed in front of Ralph, to serve as a protective shield.

Brass was sitting at the table, his hand on his gun that was lying on that desk. He was trying to talk Ralph into giving up for the last hour, but realised there was no point to it – Ralph refused to talk before he got an update on Nick Hill's condition.

They had to wait another hour before Brass got a call from the hospital. "Hill's out of surgery, he's in a stable condition," he said quite reluctanlty, not knowing whether or not this was the kind of news Ralph was waiting for or not.

Ralph nodded with a thoughtful look, while Brass was mentally preparing himself to shoot him. The gunman started to laugh quite uncontrollably as he loosened the grip around Greg's arm. He handed the CSI his gun as he wiped away the tears rolling down his face.

Greg quickly got up to give Brass room to arrest Ralph, watching the scene in confusion and relief. He handed the gun over to the first officer hurrying inside, his hands shaking as he walked out of the interrogation room. He had a look of horror and fear on his face, looking around nervously.

"Greg, we're so glad you're okay!" Spencer said as he walked up to hug him, but Greg couldn't stand his tight embrace right now, so he pushed him away from him. "Greg, what's wrong?"

"...Sorry, I just... I need to get some fresh air." He hurried outside, leaving the officers standing around confused.

* * *

Greg was sitting at the side of the building with his head in his hands, trying to digest the situation he just got out of.

"...Greg?" Nick asked as he walked over to him. "I almost didn't recognize you, what are you..." He stopped talking as he noticed the tears on his friend's face. "...What is it?"

"...Are you in a hurry right now?" Greg asked as he sobbed.

"No, not at all. Why?"

"Can you... Can you sit with me here for a moment?"

Nick nodded in confusion as he sat down next to him. They sat in silence for almost a minute before Nick decided to ask once more, "So what's wrong?" He had been at a crime scene for the last four hours and had no idea what was going on inside the police station in that time.

Greg looked at his friend but couldn't answer right away. He just gave him the saddest smile before he said, "I'm sorry. You were right."

"...About what?"

Brass walked up to the two. "Nick, good, you're here." He patted him on the shoulder. "Greg, the paramedics should take a look at you. They'll be here in a minute."

"...Paramedics? Are you hurt?" Nick looked him up and down, instantly noticing a few bruises on him. "Brass, what's going on?"

"Didn't you hear, Nicky? Ralph Serling shot Nick Hill in the interrogation room. Greg and I were with him for the last three hours until he finally gave up."

"...Wh-What? Greg, what... Why didn't you... Are you okay?"

Greg slightly nodded. "He didn't want to kill him, he just wanted to injure him. I tried to stop him, but... He would've killed me." He sobbed. "...I should've done **something**."

"Greg, it's okay. Nick Hill will live and you're fine, right? Did someone else get hurt?" When Brass shook his head, he went on, "See? It's okay. You did your best, that's what's important."

"I was naïve, Nick. I trusted that he wouldn't hurt anyone. He was grieving, I thought he'd realise he was about to make a mistake. But... He would've killed me and anyone who came in his way, I'm sure."

Two paramedics walked up to the three.

"But he didn't. Now let the paramedics take a look at you so that we all know you're alright, then we'll go home."

Normally Greg would've protested against being checked out by paramedics, but he was too exhausted to do that. He just let them do their job.

* * *

Nick and Greg arrived at home almost two hours later. Greg had to give his statement about what exactly happened with Ralph. While he knew it was important to give a statement as soon as possible, he would've preferred to get home earlier. He just wanted to go to sleep, but Nick didn't let him just yet. "Do you want something to drink? Water, tea?"

Greg shook his head as Nick walked into the kitchen. He meant to go to his room, but Nick stopped him. "Are you sure you're alright?"

He nodded. "I will be after I get some sleep." He gave him a tired, faked smile.

Nick sat down on the couch, it was obvious that he wanted Greg to do the same, so he did. "I don't know what to say, man. I'm so glad you're okay."

Greg nodded with a thoughtful look on his face. It took him a moment to build up the courage to say what he was about to say. "I'm not okay, Nick. I mean, physically, sure. But... I felt like I needed to trust this guy. I needed to trust that he wouldn't be able to kill me. ...Sure proved me wrong..."

Nick raised his eyebrows. "...But why? Why did you need that?"

He sighed deeply. "Because I can't stand being around deceitful, murderous people anymore. There has to be someone every now and then that proves to me that not everybody is capable of murder."

"And this someone has to be Ralph Serling?"

Greg shook his head as he released a laugh. He knew he was sounding like a naïve idiot right now. "Of course not. But it would've been nice, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, sure. But that's not how our job works, you know." He thought about it for a moment. "...Do you think about quitting?"

"No, I'm just frustrated right now. I love my job. ...Most of the time, anyway. But I just wish we'd get something positive out of it more often, you know?"

"I think we do and we did in this case. Nick Hill will be on trial for Erin's murder soon, that's something."

"Yeah." Greg sighed. "But Ralph will be on trial for shooting him. He's not exactly a good guy in this story, but he wasn't a bad guy, either."

"It's not black and white, Greg. He did something bad and he'll have to bear the consequences. He was aware of that and went through with his plan, anyway. You shouldn't be concerned with his future, he sure as hell wasn't with yours." Nick shrugged. "Now come on, let's go to bed. Things will look different tomorrow."


End file.
